The sun beat down on the Great Forest.
Following the highway out of the western city, a primeval forest (virgin first-growth woods) spread out.
A land of giant trees, every one of them reaching the sky.
A single carriage was racing through it.
Clatter, clatter.
"Unbelievable. This place alone really is a different country."
A man guarding the carriage looked around and grumbled.
It was a bizarre ecosystem.
The escort detail was on edge at the never-before-heard bird calls coming from every direction.
"Don't get distracted. A lot of the bandits in this forest are former adventurers."
The escort captain said calmly.
At that, his subordinate kept a wary eye on the endless black forest.
"Yes, yes, I know."
The carriage trundled up the rough mountain path.
Leaving hoofprints on the wet dirt road, it went deeper into the forest.
As they approached a jungle where you couldn't see an inch ahead, the man sighed.
"But no matter how I think about it, it doesn't add up. Crossing the Great Forest."
Around them, the traces of humans gradually disappeared.
All they could see was green and brown.
"Crossing this place without a single King-grade adventurer. Isn't that just going to become corpses as a group?"
"Enough."
The shadow of a bird passed over the escort captain's head.
It was a giant monster bird.
"Everyone accepted this job. No one was dragged along by force."
"That's true, but......."
The escort captain glanced back at the swaying carriage.
"Enough. The client can hear you."
"Tch."
The man clicked his tongue loudly, as if he wanted to be heard.
The old man inside the lurching carriage frowned as he listened to them.
"The road is rough."
An old man with a neatly groomed beard, dressed in a suit embroidered with gold.
He asked with a worried face.
"My lady, you're not uncomfortable?"
"I'm fine."
A young girl nodded.
Her thick black hair spilled down in front of her ears.
Her golden eyes were fixed on the luggage that hadn't fit in the cargo hold.
"More importantly, I think we need to keep a close eye on the luggage so it doesn't fall."
"My apologies."
The old butler bowed his head apologetically.
"There was no need for you to choose such a dangerous road, my lady."
"It's fine."
The girl shook her head.
"This road is the closest to the Imperial Palace, so it can't be helped."
"Heaven is heartless, too. How did it come to this, my lady having to go as far as the Great Forest—"
"This is so fucking hard, fuck this."
The rough cursing of the escort detail came from outside the carriage.
The old man's guilt-stricken expression instantly twisted.
"Those bastards, when they've already been paid!"
"Let it go."
"My lady!"
"The mana density in the Great Forest is thick, and they're tense, so they must be getting tired early."
"Haah, you're far too forgiving, my lady."
The other side of the carriage was even more overgrown.
The pitch-dark scenery of the green woods called to mind the underworld.
"There's room, so couldn't a few of them take turns resting in the carriage?"
"That won't do."
The old man refused flatly.
The girl roughly knew the reason, too.
"Is it... because of the bandits?"
"Yes. The bandits here are especially dangerous. They're all people with nothing to lose."
The girl scanned the forest on the other side of the carriage.
It was dark enough that you couldn't see where it ended, and bizarre magic beasts howled from every direction.
Grrrrr.
"Eek!"
A monster with its ribs laid bare swept past the carriage.
It was a form you wouldn't want to see even in a dream.
"People live even in a place like this."
"Yes. Monsters who can take on beasts like that. Still, I hear the number of bandits has dropped a lot recently."
"I heard too. That the bandits from the Sundered Forest came down."
The Sundered Forest.
Because of its harsh environment and its tall trees and terrain, even the garrison avoided it, and it was a place where bandits and gangs of thieves went into hiding.
Apparently, ever since the Empire designated it a zone of non-intervention, it hadn't bothered to send patrols.
Sending soldiers into unfavorable terrain only to have them die alongside the thieves would be a loss for the Empire.
But recently, a fair number of bandits had come down.
Earthquakes were happening on the mountain periodically.
Magic beasts had come to the eastern forest.
A mage had slipped in, and so on; they rambled on and on like insomniacs.
"The Imperial knights said so. That a crazy mage is firing off magic on the mountain without even sleeping."
In the Sundered Forest, there was a mage who didn't sleep.
That mage was apparently using magic all over the place and conducting some kind of experiment.
"That's absurd. What reason would anyone have to do such a thing?"
"It would be, wouldn't it?"
The girl, too, thought that made no sense.
If someone like that really existed, she'd rather ask him what he was thinking.
"The rumor that the western magic beasts came east is far more likely."
At the butler's dismissal, the girl nodded timidly.
Magic beasts and a crazy mage.
If possible, she hoped neither would appear.
Neeeigh!
Just then, the carriage stopped, and there was a knock from outside.
"We're nearing the edge of the eastern section."
At that news, both the butler and the girl tensed.
The eastern edge meant halfway through the Great Forest.
They hadn't met a single bandit until now.
Something was definitely strange.
No matter how much the bandits had dwindled, it was normal to meet at least one, but not a single one?
'Rather unsettling.'
They reached the end of the uphill stretch and drew near the western entrance.
The whole escort detail swallowed hard.
The new recruit, uneasy, couldn't take his hand off his sword.
"Captain, have you been to the forest before?"
"Back in my bandit days, I have. Even then, I never made it to the western side of the forest."
In the silence, the man's voice trembled.
"If we're lucky, we might not run into any magic beasts. Plenty of people have crossed the Great Forest and come back in one piece, and we can probably handle most of the magic beasts too."
Clatter. Clatter.
The carriage's uphill climb was about to end.
As they neared the western entrance, the escort unit advanced slowly, focusing all their attention on their own sectors.
Each praying the bandits wouldn't ambush from his direction.
But their hopes were betrayed.
"Halt."
The captain, who'd been watching ahead, was thrown.
"What are these guys thinking?"
"Captain, what is it?"
The man who'd been watching the rear asked.
"Stay on guard for now."
"What's up ahead? Magic beasts?"
"No, bandits."
"Bandits!? Then what's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Goddammit. I'd like to ask what's going on myself."
The entrance to the western forest.
There, on a wide plain, a band of mountain bandits was boldly blocking the road.
"Wh-what are you lot thinking?"
This was strange.
Bandits didn't block the road that boldly.
Ambush was the basic rule. So why were they doing this?
"Is something wrong?"
"My lady, it's dangerous!"
When the girl in the carriage opened the door for a moment, the stench of burning was overpowering.
Looking closely, there were areas around the plain where the trees had been artificially removed.
And amid it all, the thick smell of burning.
It looked like someone had set a fire.
"You lot don't intend to fight?"
A big man said.
His skin was clearly human-colored, yet he was a giant with a build to rival an orc's.
"Big Bro told us not to plunder."
"Big Bro? Your leader?"
Stronger than a man that huge?
Who on earth? When they looked around, a man who didn't suit the atmosphere at all was standing right in the middle of the bandit band.
"Big Bro, those are the ones."
"I told you not to call me big bro, people will get the wrong idea."
It was a youthful voice.
His build was an adult's, but his age was about the same as the girl in the carriage.
He hardly seemed old enough to be called big bro by those burly bandits.
"Only duds came out today, so I figured it was a good day, and it really was a lucky one."
The whole escort detail was thrown by the sound of that voice.
An attitude all the creepier because they couldn't sense any malice in it.
The bandit leader's gaze pierced the escort captain.
"You, what's your intent?"
"Let's make a deal."
***
Adam waved at the bandits to withdraw.
"Bandit gentlemen, you can go back now."
When he sent the bandits slowly back up the mountain, the other side spoke to him.
"Are you the leader?"
"That's just what they call me on their own."
Adam turned his head toward the carriage.
"Are you merchants?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I was wondering if you had a reason important enough to cross the Great Forest."
"......."
"You're the escort detail, right? What are you transporting?"
The escort captain kept his eyes fixed on Adam and didn't take his hand off his sword.
The longer they talked, the warier he seemed to get.
"What are you transporting?"
"Answer my question first. What's your intent? What kind of deal are you proposing?"
Adam frowned at that question.
"Intent or whatever, don't treat me like the aggressor. For starters, this is private land. You're the trespassers."
"P-private land? You're saying this insane forest has an owner?"
"Yes. He's an acquaintance of mine, and he told me to deal with any trespassers."
At the words 'deal with,' the escort detail's stances turned aggressive.
"Are you an assassin sent to take care of us?"
"If I were, I'd have ambushed you long ago. Letting the bandits go should say enough, shouldn't it?"
"...Th-that's true."
"I don't want a pointless fight. If anything, I came because I want to join your escort detail."
"What?"
"You don't get it? I'm saying let's work together."
The escort captain shook his head in disbelief.
"What's the reason? What on earth do you want?"
"Information."
To be exact, magical information related to the curse.
"Information?"
His eyebrows rose as if he hadn't expected that.
"I'm under a curse right now. I've been training to break it. It was going well, but I got stuck at an important part. Because of this damn curse, I can't sleep and I'm on the verge of losing my mind. I'm asking because I want to grab any lifeline I can."
In that instant, the escort members' eyes were covered in shock.
"A mage... who doesn't sleep."
"Don't tell me that kid is......."
What's with them?
"The crazy mage......?"
It felt like he'd been referred to in a very rude way.
"By any chance, you don't believe me?"
"N-no. Anyway, I understand your intent."
For some reason, the escort captain's attitude turned polite.
"But whether to hire you or not is the employer's call."
The captain knocked on the carriage.
A clear girl's voice came from inside the carriage.
"That person says he'd like you to hire him."
"What do you think?"
"There'd be no loss. In the forest, it's best to gather as much fighting strength as possible. Above all, that guy is—"
"I know."
"My lady, you mustn't! That man's identity is still unclear!"
The old butler, who'd been listening, went white as a sheet.
"If it comes to that, the Adventurers' Guild isn't clear about identities either. Let's check for now. Mister Mage, would you come to the carriage?"
Adam picked up his luggage and headed to the carriage.
When the door opened, a girl with black hair and golden eyes looked up at Adam.
"You pass. I'll hire you."
"My lady!"
Huh? She only looked at my face.
"Am I that handsome?"
"Ahahaha!"
The girl smiled lightly.
"You simply had more than enough qualifications."
The sheer amount of mana overflowing from Adam's body, impossible to hide. That alone was enough to pass.
***
[1 Hour Earlier]
A bandit underling asked Adam.
"Big Bro, what if they won't agree to the deal?"
Adam gently closed his eyes.
"Then we go with Plan B."
"Plan B? You mean you've got another plan?"
"No, I don't."
Light rippled in the magic circle on the back of Adam's hand.
"'B' stands for 'BOOM.'"
Adam toyed with an explosive sphere in one hand.